jdmidwest

We had some frost in SE, MO this week and alot of dry weather. I don't look for much in the way of good color this year locally. Things have been turning brown for a few weeks now. Sumacs are showing red and some maples are changing. My poplars dropped 1/2 of their leaves early due to the dry spell.

Youngins listen to too much loud rap music nowadays, but they do understand the all caps. I did type it sloowwllyyy at first for everyone. Locally, there have been a few stories in the news about persons making drug deals with police officers, seems like they dialed the wrong number or something.

The fire rings will all disappear on the next rise, that is the beauty of Ozark Gravel bars. Ozark Floaters are not really the "leave no trace" kinda people. They are just now getting over the age old practice of sinking the empties and carrying out the trash. The original "floaters" on the Current River were the loggers that were floating rafts of timber down the river as they stripped the forest. Honestly, we have made some progress.

You might want to look into a health savings account and a major medical policy. It is what we switched to at work a few years ago and seems to be working fine. Employer pockets what he used to spend monthly minus the premiums for a $3k deductible medical plan. He matches 50/50 of the deductible and most are never out of pocket more than they were before. There is a prescription card program and a supplement like Afflac. I have never used it but it did cut down on the abusers that felt insurance should pay for all of their expenses. You have to pay out of pocket for small stuff, but are covered if anything major happens. Insurance premiums are on the rise in all companies, better half seen at least a 30% increase at her job. It is not because of the man in office, it is insurance companies covering the liabilities of what they have to insure now. They have to carry kids to 26, which would have normally been transferred to a higher rate individual policy, they now have to insure the major risks which are coming in as a dead expense with all of their bills, and other things. Insurance is a business and they have to make a profit to keep in business. Its not the man, but it is his plan, the plan his cronies forced down our throat. Was any one expecting it to all be free? Did you expect cheaper insurance??

I think that 500mb limit is a monthly limit, not a daily limit. At least that is what Skyway has on mine. I do major stuff on work bandwidth, I use Teamviewer and cue up downloads from my office computer after business hours and dump them on a usb stick when I get to work. Look into Skyway if you have a landline. $39 a month for 128k access which only lets you surf a little faster but still no streaming video, youtube, or pic intensive projects. They have better plans also and you install/own your own equipment.

But, if you artificially introduce alot of trout into a habitat by "stocking" them, do you not understand the unfair advantage they have over the native fish that inhabit that stream system? Let me elaborate, you are a smallmouth bass in a hole of water with 300 minnows, 250 crayfish, and several other smallmouth buddies, some goggle eye buddies, and a few pickerel guys hanging out in the weeds and you are thinking about lunch. Along comes a MDC boat with a guy tossing in some new guy in large numbers that likes the same food as you, they have been in a truck for a while, and now they are looking for lunch too. What happens to the menu? The waitress starts running out of the daily special is what happens. The only saving grace for you as a smallmouth is that the Alpha Predator is looking for the new guy and not coming after you. So you sit and wait till the new guy gets fished out.

At least you did not make a drug deal with him, might have landed you in jail... I have heard of that happening alot lately on the news.

Now I am going to miss Terriers tonite. Looks like we are going to lose Fox News as of NOV. 1. National Geographic, another good channel is gone too. If I had access to higher speed internet, I would just watch them on there, but don't have that option either. Oh well, guess I will just have to tye some flies.

Yeah, I heard Ron White showed up this year and stole your glory.....

It is Tuesday night and was surfing the channels. Started watching Basic, the movie on a channel that used to occupy FX and realized, IT IS NOT FX ANYMORE! Was warned last week during Sons of Anarchy that we may be losing it, but thought it was just some clever advertising from Direct TV to get more subscribers. Seems like it was true, Dish would not pay for the FX, and Nat. Geo Channels any longer. They cried that FOX was upping the rates 50%, but since my rates have increased over the past 6 years from $20 to $55 for the same service, I felt I was covered. What a scam. My Dish stuff is heading for the junk heap. Trouble is, Direct is crap too, and I live in the country where we have no options. Even the local channels are gone for the most part since the switch to analog last year. Oh well, Jackass is on MTV, that is always quality TV..... Plus side, I may just spend some more time online with all of you!

If trout don't compete with smallmouth in the 11 pt, why do most fishing reports reveal the best methods are on crayfish patterns, stoneflies, and streamers, weighted and fished deep. Why are my best producing lures imitating crayfish and minnows for both species? 11 pt trout are not dainty little bug suckers, they like meat, minnows, crayfish, and larger insects, just like smallies. You don't see any reports about a fine Trico hatch in any of the reports. And based on my personal experience from fishing the Greer to Turner section both before when the trout were stocked monthly to recently when the trout were left to fend for themselves without stocking, smallies have returned and we catch more of them. You artificially introduce an extra 100 hungry trout into a pool of water along with all of its other inhabitants, there is increased competition for the food source that is available in the pool. Do you think the trout just sit there and wait in a pecking order? And most stream temps below the spring branches after the cooler water of 55-58 degree spring water mixes with the warmer waters of the main river soon becomes ideal smallmouth habitat. I have caught nice smallmouth bass in waters below Greer Spring, Boze Mill, Alley Spring, Welch Spring, Cave Spring, Pulltite Spring, Round Spring, Mammoth Spring, and others. I have caught nice largemouth also along with pickerel, goggle eye, and walleye. The theory that a spring branch "sterilizes" a stream and makes it inhabitable to all things but trout does not hold water based on my experience. The cool waters of a spring are what enhances our smallmouth streams.

Yes, does are legal in all counties during archery season I believe. The 4 point rule only applies to the buck if you are in a 4 point county. You are allowed 2 deer during archery season, but only 1 buck can be taken before firearms season. You can take any combination of deer as long as you do not take more than 2 during the season. Check the pamphlet for the fall deer/turkey season, it explains the season limits.

How can you justify a statement like "The stretch below Greer has never been good smallmouth water" when in our lifetime it has always been a stocked trout stream. Who can remember the time prior to when it was first stocked with trout and native species did not have to compete with the trout? One thing I have noticed is that with the cessation of monthly stocked trout in the upper sections from Greer to Turner, you can catch more smallies in that area now. Trout and smallmouth compete for the same food sources in the wild, crayfish, minnows, hellgrammites and other large nymphs, terrestrials, etc. And both occupy the same rocks, structures, and riffles together in the stream. One of the reasons I like to fish for both are they are so similar in so many ways. In some areas you will find trout sipping a Trico spinner or a caddis, but for the most part, in MO, they are meat eaters. You will seldom see rising trout on the 11 pt.

As I stated, the dams lowered the temps of the water and changed the habitat to the point that smallies could not strive. This is not the case on the 11 pt and Spring Rivers, I have caught nice smallies on the entire length of each river. They actually move up into the cooler spring areas in the winter because it is warmer than the lower parts of the river away from the springs influence. Same goes for the Walleye and Google Eye. The increased pressure for food sources that they share with the non native trout keep their numbers and sizes down for the most part.

I have a feeling that soon we will see cell phones littering the stream bottom like powerbait jars. People dropping them to get them out of the vest, tossin them in the water after the wife finds out where you are, knocked in the stream by a well placed cast from another angler that does not want to listen to your crap on the phone.... Mine stays in the car. I miss the old bag phones that were tethered to the car. People get irritated today if you don't answer on the first ring. They are getting too lazy to leave a voicemail, and assume that you have caller id and will call them back if they don't leave a message. Just another distraction.

All of the trout in MO are essentially Put and Take, they would not survive long without MDC adding them to the stream during the year in most areas. Even the catch and release stream and ponds at Montauk require a monthly stock to keep fish in them due to fishing mortality. The smaller the river, the stricter the rules to ensure a quality fishing experience. There are areas to suit all fishing styles and methods so nobody is left out. I like catching trout and really don't have a problem with the current system. If the white ribbon portions were done away with and nature was allowed to resume its course, I would still be able to enjoy the areas and catch native fish. It is my understanding that trout hatcheries are at max production and the possibilities of making a new hatchery is not possible. No cold water source to supply them. So, we have what we have unless demand for trout falls or we increase production.

Most modern blanks are built with the ferrules on them now so you can assemble it right away and check the spline. There will probably be one point that seems more flexible than the rest, but maybe not. That is a test of a bamboo, the graphite is more consistent. You could also flex it to see the action. The deeper the rod curves to the handle, the slower the action. If your casting style is toward a fast action and the rod flexes low toward the handle section, it will be too slow for you and you will not like it. Pick up a rod that you like to cast, line it up and pull the line tight toward you and note the curve of the rod and how far down the rod it goes. Take the new blank, attach a line to the tip and do the same thing, see if it matches the action. Otherwise, poke and hope. If it does not suit you, sell it, trade it, or give it as a gift. Consider it practice for the next one.

How big are the hackles on your wollie? Longer hackles will catch more wind and water and twist the line. You could try a reverse palmer and tie the hackle different or use a smaller hackle.

Why purpose any new laws? An ethical sportsman will only take the fish he needs to eat anyway, the others will do what they do no matter what the law is. Enforce the laws and limits already in place and stop the lawbreakers. If you see a lawbreaker, turn them in and help out in the enforcement. The rule book already needs a lawyer to figure it out anyway. No need to complicate it further. There are White Ribbon areas that are packed daily with fish called Trout Parks. The other areas are wild enough that they could support a trout marginally, but have displaced the native fish in the stream to the point that we have lost the natural balance of the stream. I see both sides and lean both ways, I like to trout fish and I like to fish for other species. I don't rely on the fish for food so I am indifferent to the management of each species to feed my family. I do like "quality" fishing, I don't like practicing my casting to dead water. The White River System was a Premium Smallmouth stream till the river was dammed and the water temps were lowered. It was at that point the introduction of Non Native trout became the prime species on that system. Eleven Point River was a prime Smallmouth Stream till the Rainbow trout was introduced. Both compete for the same food source and the Rainbow Trout has the advantage by the unnatural selection of the MDC dumping an overwhelming amount of them in the stream every month by boat and truck. Spring River in Arkansas is another example. Probably many more of the many stocked streams in the US have experience the same problem. We messed with nature by stocking non-native fish to fill our desires, not nature's natural process of selection.

You can't carry drinks on a backpacking trip??? I saw a guy in Alaska carry in all of his stuff and a 24 pack of Budwiser thru a few miles of heavy brush and muck to the Kenai. That was the one that sold me on Goretex waders, what he came thru was so soggy that he wore his waders on the hike and they were still watertight. Tent, bag, food, stove, flyrod and vest, and that silly red and white case of beer strapped on his back appeared across from camp on a path that we had just watched a grizzly drop out of a few hours before. I would have just packed a pint of good whisky and mixed it with water. I really don't think I could have a camp without a good roaring fire, it warms you, dries you, and prepares you for a cold night in the tent, then it warms you up in the morning. I don't like the smoke either and put the tent out of the smoke. I camp alone alot, but seldom hit the sack before 10 or 11. I sure would not pack a cell phone on a backpack hike, too much weight.....

What are you afraid of? We all have to die some day.

Strong front coming in will probably slow down the warmwater fishes for a few days then they will really turn on for the fall feed. Trout should be pretty consistent, may affect hatches of insects. It will be more comfortable to fish and enjoy the outdoors.

What is the commercial about? What browser do you use?

Why would you go to bed at 4?? Why not build a fire and have a few drinks around it? Then you can sleep like a baby. Download a book and read it on your phone for a little entertainment. My gripe was that I was OFF work and work was bugging us.

Dropped off the grid today for a little fishing. Had to deliver some product to a customer close to the Current River, so made a full day of it. Out the door and on the road at 3 am. Took a small nap at Baptist till the sun came up and started getting ready when the duck call started going off. The dam cell phone. Next, my buddies started beeping a message. Walked away and went upstream. Fished till after 9 and caught a few nice ones during a beautiful morning. We had deer, beavers, muskrats, and a irritated kingfisher. Back to the truck, both phones beeping missed messages and voicemails. Went to the lodge for breakfast, came back out and the phones were ringing as we opened the door. I really don't know why we did not kill the power to them. I did call one back and tell them that I was off and fishing at Montauk, was wished good luck and he let me go. We fished the park till 2 then back to business. Wind was kicking up and fishing dries was getting tough. I like technology, but I like to get away. Mine stayed in the truck, my buddy carried his on the river and answered a few calls that amounted to nothing that could not have waited. The new service really sucks in my opinion, who's idea was it to put one there in the first place? And the van never showed up at Baptist, but I was ready.